35 mm Camera

I received a real-live 35mm camera for Christmas this year. I'm kind of a goof, and asked for the 35mm instead of a digital, so Mr. Saucy was very upset with me that he had found the EXACT thing that I asked for as my big surprise present, only to see my face fall as I realized it wasn't also digital, which was what I THOUGHT I was asking for.

But ... the truth is ...

I LOVE IT!! And I'm so happy for this little mistake, because it's even more perfect than I had thought it would be.

I LOVE taking REAL pictures. I love focusing on what I want to focus on. I love getting right up onto a leaf to get the detail of the veins in it, or getting the light to come through a twisting vine just right. I love clicking the shutter release and it actually TAKES the picture right then and there without having to wait for all it's automatic settings to figure out what it thinks I'm trying to take a picture of.

I've taken it all around the yard, playing with the focus and zoom, adjusting for the light, getting right up on a huge blob of sap oozing from a tree, getting beautiful shots of different plants, trees, and shadows, and making the kids stand perfectly still for minutes on end while I focus, then get them to both look straight ahead, stop fighting, quit trying to get the sun out of their faces so I can get a good shot.

After every picture each kid wanted to see. They still don't get it that they can't see the picture that I just took. This makes absolutely no sense to them what so ever. And to my horror, I realized I didn't know how to explain to my 6 year old how the guy at CVS was going to know how to color the picture. 

See, when I learned about photography, it was in the 1970's and my Daddy had a dark room in the basement. I would go down there with him, develop the film into negatives, then make contact prints, then we would pick out the pictures we wanted to print, then we'd use the projector and make them whatever size we wanted. 

I'd help pour the solutions, slowly and gently swish the developing chemicals, wait for the timers to tell us when they go into the next solution, sue the wooden tongs to move the paper from one tray to the next, slowly swishing in that one, then the next one. 

I'd see the image come to life on the page, watch it deepen and emerge from a blank page of white paper into a glossy black and white photo. We'd rinse it off, then hang it to dry.

I still remember the smell of each tray. I remember the way the photo paper felt when lifting it with the wooden tongs. I remember the slightly slimy, slick feeling when I got the solution on my fingers and Daddy made me rush to wash it off. 

I also remember that we kept the developing trays in a shallow shelf that was pretty close to eye level for me when I was 5 or 6, but counter height to adults. In that shallow, low shelf, I would reach in to get the trays out for Daddy, and there would be a few dozen cave crickets in there looking back at me. I never minded them. That's just a part of what was in the dark room.

I don't think I'm going to set up a dark room here at Awesome Central. I'm not even sure you can find the at home solutions anymore. I'm sure it would be a much bigger investment than I'm willing to jump into right now.

But man oh man ... 

I miss those smells and the time spent with Daddy and I miss watching the images come to life. 

Magic.

Taco Soup

Sometimes the most simple dish is the most delicious. Today, for instance, I wanted soup. A warm, hearty bowl of rich soup. So, I thought of chicken tortilla. I have taco seasonings, corn tortillas in the freezer, frozen corn, chicken, and a can of refried beans. So I headed to the kitchen to whip it up.

But then I saw the leftover taco meat from Tuesday. And the leftover chicken stock from the latests batch that didn't get frozen.

So, into the pot went:

3 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of leftover taco meat (this week was beef and chicken)

1 can of refried beans

Frozen corn (I used the now empty can from the beans and filled that with the frozen corn as my measure)

1 cup of salsa

If I hadn't been so hungry, I would have toasted a couple of tortilla's to have a crunchy element with my soup, and if I had it on hand, I would have garnished with fresh cilantro. 

But for a quick, "Oh My God, It's 3:00 Already" lunch, this was awesome.

Holiday Meal Planning

I must admit ... one of my favorite things about any holiday or gathering is the food. Planning it, cooking it, watching the faces of my family and friends as they enjoy seeing it, smelling it, and eating it.

I start to think about the food weeks before the holiday or event. Sometimes, I'm even thinking about it a few months ahead of time. Some people get grumpy right before Thanksgiving because retail stores put out Christmas decorations and some people feel this disrespects Thanksgiving, but I don't feel this way at all. I begin to think about Thanksgiving in October. As soon as the fall decorations hit the stores, I'm thinking about stuffing, turkey, and cranberries.

So it should come as no surprise that right after Thanksgiving, I start to think of Christmas dinner. And on that same note, I start to peruse Pinterest for breakfast casserole ideas for Christmas morning.

This year, I'm going to make my sweet potato, sausage, and egg hash in the crock-pot. If it turns out like I hope, I'll post the recipe.

For Christmas dinner, I'm planning on a mustard, garlic, herb roasted prime rib, baked mashed potato rosettes, mushroom gravy, and oven roasted acorn squash with brown sugar and pecans for dessert. None of us are big dessert eaters, so the squash with brown sugar and nuts will be a perfect sweet ending to the meal.

I'm still searching for a green veggie. We had green beans for Thanksgiving, and broccoli and green peas are standard family favorites for us, but I'm trying to think of another green veg that will be a little fancy, but still agreeable to the masses. Brussel sprouts are out. Asparagus is out. Artichokes are out. Creamed spinach is out. I think perhaps fresh spinach wilted in a simple mixture of butter, olive oil, and garlic would be lovely. Yes. That sounds perfect.

So ... what are you making for Christmas Dinner? Are you a turkey family? Or do you prefer a ham since you just finished the leftovers of turkey from Thanksgiving? We do a nice hunk of beef for Christmas. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday that you celebrate too!

Laundry Hacks

I've made 2 small but meaningful changes to the laundry "room" in the past few weeks that I wanted to share.

Yes ... this is about the extent of my domestic house-wife joy at the moment. In addition to the typical daily holiday shopping, cooking, cleaning, and decorating, pesky little things like clean clothes are still a priority around here.

Now, it turns out, I am honestly the only one in the house who knows what "sort the laundry" means. Even if I purposely leave an article of each colored clothes in the 3-part hamper as an indicator, I'm still the only one who sees this.

I thought about printing pictures of clothes and laminating them and affixing them somehow to the hamper. I thought about making a sign to hand over the 3-part hamper. I even cut out pictures from the Sunday sales flyers to make a collage for each compartment. 

But then, as I was holding a handful of multicolored sharpies, brilliance struck. And this is what came of it.

We now have clearly marked darks, lights, and whites. By scribbling/coloring the white tubing with the colors associated with each compartment, I was able to indicate to everyone from the 42 year old to the 4 year old which articles of clothing go into which compartment. The only time they still get confused is with towels and colored undies. I bleach all towels and undies, regardless of color.

The next wave of brilliance came with a $2.00 price tag. With a pack of wooden clothespins from the dollar store and a tube of super glue from the dollar store, I was able to make this.

Yes, we really do have this many unmatched socks. 8 feet in the family and this many missing socks. I glued some of the clothes pins farther apart than others so I could hang the longer socks from those without hiding any under/behind them. And by using super glue, it beautifully blessed my need for immediate gratification. 

Do these simple changes mean the laundry will forever be clean, folded and put away. Nope. Not even close. But it does mean that I will have less fits when I go to DO the laundry because by planning ahead, putting operating procedures in place, laying out the expectations clearly and simply, there should be a smooth operation from here on out.

Right? I mean running a house should be easier than running a for-profit company, right? You set rules, you lead by example, and everyone does what there supposed to do.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Yeah ... RIGHT!

Awe, Fudge!

A friend just asked for an easy fudge recipe and I sent this to her. Figured I'd share it with y'all too.

Marshmallow Cream Fudge

I jar marshmallow cream

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 oz pkg chocolate pieces

1/2 cup nuts if you want 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine everything except vanilla, chocolate and nuts and bring to a full boil. Boil for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stir until melted. Add nuts and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour into an 8" square pan lined with parchment or wax paper. Chill until firm, turn out, cut into squares.

I've made it with PB chips, chocolate chips, swirls of PB and chocolate, butterscotch chips, etc. Its very easy. You can add anything you want before you set it. Chopped candy canes, nuts, dried cherries or craisins, go crazy.

Running From The Truth

Y'all, I done gone and lost my mind.

I have signed up to run not one, but two races this coming year. The first is a half marathon in March. That's only four months from now! I need to be able to travel by foot 13.1 miles in just four months. I don't for a second think I'm going to be able to RUN this race, but I do at least need to be able to walk that distance by then. A few hop skipping running type jog steps along the way would be nice, but I'm honestly just hoping to be able to travel that far using my own muscles and feet.

The dogs and I just got back from a little practice walk. My toes have fallen asleep, indicating it's time for new shoes, and the dogs are DONE. I didn't think Homer was going to make it. Honestly! I kept thinking I was going to have to call Mr. Saucy to come home from work to pick us up and drive us back home. No, I wouldn't have left my baby boy on the side of the road and gone home without him. Yes I would have asked My Honey to drive 15 miles back home to drive my angel Laprador home.

Looks like we went about two miles this morning. I think Homer would have been happy with just one mile. Poor thing. He's old, BIG, and I think his joints are beginning to hurt him. The fuzzy girl had a blast though! She started foaming at the mouth with all the other doggie smells out in the world, which led to all the neighbors casually walking to the other side of the road to continue their walk on the other sidewalk. I don't know why a huge, wolf-like, part shepherd who's foaming at the mouth would instill trepidation in others, but I guess something about the presence of the three of us together made my fellow morning walkers feel better on the other side of the street.

The first of the two runs that I've signed up for is sponsored by St. Jude Children's Hospital. Links to both races will be included at the bottom of the post if you would like to join the teams to run/walk or if you would prefer to donate to the cause.

The second of the two runs is the Mudderella, which is a 6 mile obstacle course designed by women and it raises money for the nonprofit Futures Without Violence, which is dedicated to ending domestic violence. It's a noncompetitive course, so working together with your team to both encourage and help with obstacles is the name of the game here.

Both of these causes are very near and dear to my heart. The idea of kids being sick is terrifying. I've lost too many loved ones to cancer, one of which was a friends child. It's just unthinkable that children would have to endure such a nasty nasty thing as cancer. Mr. Saucy's step-brother has a daughter who, before she entered Kindergarten, had battled cancer and beat it. I believe we'll find a way to destroy this beast before my time on earth is over, and we can only do that as long as facilities are funded for research, studies, and experimental medicines. 

Domestic violence in every aspect is just as terrifying as any disease. To be afraid of your loved one, whether it be a partner, parent, or other family member is equally horrifying. Even though I was young when the transaction took place, my childhood home was sold to an organization who turned it into a shelter for battered women and children. Knowing that the home where I have such fond and safe memories is now sheltering others who truly need that love and protection makes me proud.

So, that being said, here are the promised links for the two events that I have somehow allowed myself to sign up for.

Lord help me...

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mudderella-capital-region-saturday-july-25-2015-registration-12743928433

http://fundraising.stjude.org/site/TR/Heroes/Heroes?px=3101821&pg=personal&fr_id=26980